Methods and arrangements in a cellular communication network

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to methods and arrangements for resolving radio resource conflicts occurring in radio networks supporting both local ad-hoc communication and cellular communication. The conflicts are resolved by informing the cellular network about radio resource management restrictions due to the local ad-hoc communication needs and resources that are reserved for local ad-hoc communications.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This U.S. non-provisional patent application is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/008,575, filed on Jan. 18, 2011, whichclaims priority under 35 USC §119 to PCT International Application No.PCT/SE2010/050125, filed on Feb. 2, 2010, the entire contents of each ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to methods and arrangements in a cellularcommunication network using a radio access technology capable ofestablishing both local ad-hoc and cellular communication sessions.

BACKGROUND

Most user equipments (UE) in wireless communications systems today, areequipped with multiple radio interfaces such that they are configured tooperate over multiple radio access technologies (RATs), such as GSM, 3Gand LTE. The existing UEs equipped with multiple radio interfaces areconfined to use only one of the available RATs at a given point in time,even if several RATs are available and the UE runs several applicationssimultaneously. That is, true “multi-homing” using several RATssimultaneously is currently not supported by the commercially availablecellular UEs. In fact, this limitation is not only due to UElimitations, but also because true multi-homing support would requirenew solutions in the multi-radio protocols as well. Therefore, it isexpected that at least a subset of future UEs continues to operate in a“one RAT a time” mode.

Local ad-hoc networks, also referred to as wireless self-organizingnetworks, consist in their simplest forms of independent wireless nodesthat dynamically form connections with each other to create a network.Self-organizing or ad-hoc networks have no central control and nodependence upon a fixed infrastructure. Today, ad-hoc networking isfacilitated by, for example, BlueTooth, which is included as standard inmany UEs, including phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs),computers and home electronics such as video cameras.

In the future, cellular RATs and notably LTE networks will supportad-hoc networking allowing devices equipped with a 3GPP LTE interface toform ad-hoc networks for local communication. Such scenarios can be inthe wireless home or office or in public “hot spot” areas, e.g. airports, libraries, health care centers, public administration buildings,etc.

When the resources of the cellular network also are used for localcommunication with ad-hoc peers, resource conflicts between the cellularnetwork and the ad-hoc communication may occur.

A solution to this conflict may be to allocate some of the resources(e.g. certain frequency bands) for local ad-hoc communication and otherresources for communication with the cellular network.

A disadvantage with such a solution is that the resources may not beutilized efficiently since the need for local ad-hoc communication mayvary over time.

SUMMARY

Thus an object of the present invention is to achieve a more resourceefficient solution.

This is achieved by informing the cellular network consisting of a corenetwork and one or more radio access networks about radio resourcemanagement restrictions in the cellular network due to the ad-hoccommunication needs and resources that are reserved for ad-hoccommunications. When the cellular network is aware of this informationit can manage the cellular radio resources to avoid conflicts with theresources used for the local ad-hoc communication session.

According to a first aspect of the present invention a method in a UE isprovided. The UE comprises at least one radio access communicationinterface supporting cellular and local ad-hoc communication. In themethod, a local communication to the ad-hoc network is established, andinformation about radio resource utilization resulting in resourcerestrictions for cellular communication due to the local ad-hoccommunication is sent via a cellular connection to a node of thecellular network.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the UE comprises atleast a first communication interface for a first cellular networkconfigured according to a first RAT and a second communication interfacefor a second cellular network configured according to a second RAT,wherein only one of the first and second communication interfaces can beused at one point of time. In this embodiment, the information aboutradio resource utilization resulting in resource restrictions due to thelocal ad-hoc communication comprises recommendations that the UE shouldnot be handed over to certain radio access technologies.

According to a second aspect of the present invention a method in anetwork node is provided. The network node controls cellular radioresources of UEs in a cellular network at least configured to operateaccording to one radio access technology supporting local ad-hoccommunication. In the method, information from a UE is received aboutradio resource utilization resulting in resource restrictions due to alocal communication which the UE intends to be involved in, and thecellular radio resources are controlled based on the receivedinformation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention a UE is provided.The UE comprises at least one radio access communication interfacesupporting cellular and local ad-hoc communication. The at least oneradio access communication interface is configured to establish a localcommunication to the ad-hoc network. Further, the UE comprises aninformation unit configured to send, to a node of the cellular network,information about radio resource utilization resulting in radio resourcerestrictions for cellular communication due to the local ad-hoccommunication via a cellular connection.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention a network node isprovided. The network node controls cellular radio resources of UEs in acellular network at least configured to operate according to one radioaccess technology supporting local ad-hoc communication. The networknode comprises a receiver configured to receive information from a UEabout radio resource utilization resulting in resource restrictions dueto a local communication which the UE intends to be involved in, and acontrolling unit configured to control the cellular radio resourcesbased on the received information.

According to an embodiment, the cellular network is configured tooperate according to multiple radio access technologies and in thisembodiment the information comprises recommendations that the UE shouldnot be handed over to certain radio access technologies.

According to a further embodiment, the network node is a core networknode, such as a VLR or HLR, and the core network node comprises aprofile storage storing at least one profile comprising the informationabout radio resource utilization resulting in resource restrictionsassociated with possible UE local ad-hoc configurations.

According to a yet further embodiment, the network node is a radioaccess network node, wherein the receiver may be configured to receive alocal communication request from the UE. The local communication requestcomprises information about radio resource restrictions associated withpossible UE local ad-hoc configurations.

An advantage with embodiments of the present invention is that theproposed solution enables multi-RAT cellular networks to avoid issuingsuch commands to UEs that are involved in cellular and ad-hoccommunications that would lead to conflicts and thereby (possibly)leading to communication failure or performance degradations of thead-hoc communication sessions.

A further advantage with embodiments of the present invention is thatthe proposed solution builds mostly on already standardized andimplemented protocols and other technology components. For instance, theprofile that is used in the NAS (non access stratum) based solution canbe an extension of the existing Subscriber Profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a network setup wherein the embodiments of thepresent invention may be used.

FIGS. 2 a and 2 b illustrate a first embodiment of the present inventionusing a NAS (non access stratum) based solution.

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b illustrate a second embodiment of the presentinvention using an AS (access stratum) based solution.

FIGS. 4-11 are flowcharts of the methods according to the embodiments ofthe present invention.

FIG. 12 shows the UE according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 13 and 14 show the network node according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodimentsof the invention are shown. The invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In thedrawings, like reference signs refer to like elements.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the means andfunctions explained herein below may be implemented using softwarefunctioning in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor or generalpurpose computer, and/or using an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC). It will also be appreciated that while the currentinvention is primarily described in the form of methods and devices, theinvention may also be embodied in a computer program product as well asa system comprising a computer processor and a memory coupled to theprocessor, wherein the memory is encoded with one or more programs thatmay perform the functions disclosed herein.

The present invention is applicable to radio access technologiesallowing both cellular and local ad-hoc communication. Although suchradio access technologies are exemplified by an LTE (Long TermEvolution) network, the present invention is not limited to LTE networksbut can also be used in other networks.

In the embodiments of the present invention, it is being assumed that auser equipment (UE) equipped with one or more radio access technology(RAT) interfaces to a respective cellular network is part of onecellular communication session and of a local ad-hoc network sessionsimultaneously using the same resources for the cellular and the localad-hoc communication. Such a scenario may be supported by differentexisting technologies e.g. LTE and Wimax using for example, time orfrequency sharing between accessing the cellular network and the localad-hoc network or peers. The UEs may be restricted to only use one RATinterface at a time due to user preferences, physical or batterylimitations or other reasons. This is a typical scenario for today'scellular phones supporting multiple 3GPP RAT interfaces (LTE, 3G,GSM/EDGE RAN).

Turning now to FIG. 1 which illustrates a scenario where a video camera102 i.e. the UE is connected to a cellular network comprising radioaccess networks 104 and a core network 106 and is simultaneouslyparticipating in a local ad-hoc session with a video server 100. LTEresources are used for both the cellular, also referred to as globalconnection, and the ad-hoc, also referred to as local or local ad-hoc,connection. However, in this scenario the video camera 102 supportsmultiple RATs and can thus establish cellular connections with multipleaccess networks, e.g. with an LTE network and a 30 network. It should benoted that a cellular connection with only one of the supported RATs canbe established at a time. However, the video camera can only establishthe ad-hoc session with the video server via LTE.

The cellular network controls the UE in many aspects but is not aware ofany local communication which the UE may be a part of. Therefore, thenetwork may request the UE to perform an inter RAT handover 108, i.e.change from one RAT to another. If the video camera 102 in FIG. 1 wouldchange from LTE to 3G which does not support ad-hoc communication, thead-hoc session with the video server would fail.

The problem which embodiments of the present invention solve, stems fromthe combination of the facts that:

(1) the video camera shares some of its resources between the local andthe cellular communication session,(2) the cellular RAN is not aware of the UE, in this scenario the videocamera, being engaged in a local session and(3) the cellular network controls some of the resource assignments forthe UE.

Accordingly, the RAN 104 or the core network 106 can order the UE 102 toexecute a multi-access handover from LTE to 3G due to load balancing oroperator policies in the scenario illustrated in FIG. 1.

As mentioned above, the embodiments of the present invention isapplicable to a user equipment communicating locally with ad-hoc peersand with a cellular RAN using a single RAT at a time, wherein the RAT isused for both the local and the cellular communication sessions. Time orfrequency division is used to differentiate between the local and thecellular sessions. In a scenario as illustrated in FIG. 1, prior toestablishing a local ad-hoc communication channel, the UE needs toannounce its own capabilities, detect/search local beacon signals,announcements and capabilities, e.g. it needs to find the video server,send and reply to so called HELLO messages, etc to the ad-hoc peer.Because the UE needs to act “on its own” without the cellular RAN'scontrol when establishing the local ad-hoc sessions, the UE's resourcesare prone to get into conflicts between the ad-hoc and cellularcommunications.

Examples of such conflicts are:

-   -   Inter-RAT handover as mentioned above.    -   The UE may miss scheduling grants from the RAN while searching        for the video server or establishing initial contact with it        (e.g. exchanging security keys, etc);    -   The RAN may cause high interference to a local UE announcement,        beacon signals, and HELLO messages since the RAN is not aware of        the time/frequency resources the UE uses for local capability        announcements and signaling.

The above mentioned conflicts can be resolved by informing the cellularnetwork consisting of a core network and one or more radio accessnetworks about radio resource management restrictions due to the localad-hoc communication needs and resources that are reserved for localad-hoc communications. For example, in the inter-RAT handover example asdescribed above, the UE indicates proactively to the CN that it cannotperform inter-RAT handover because its ad-hoc peer is not multi-RATcapable.

Accordingly, both the CN and the RAN should be made aware of the localcommunication needs of the UE according to embodiments of the presentinvention. Clearly, the source of the information concerning the localcommunication needs of the UE is the UE, since it is the UE thatinitiates the ad-hoc communications and has information about the localcommunication requirements. Thus, according to embodiments of theinvention the UE sends information to the network about radio resourceutilization resulting in restrictions due to the ad-hoc communication.This information may comprise:

-   -   Information of the RAT, e.g. LTE, used for local communication        which may be interpreted as a suggestion to the network that the        UE should not be handed over to another RAT than LTE.    -   Informing the network that the UE is not able to receive        scheduling grants from the RAN since it is busy searching for        establishing initial contact with local communication devices.    -   Informing the network about time/frequency resources used for        the local communication so as to assist the cellular RAN in        avoiding causing interference to the local communication links;    -   Other parameters associated with the local communication such as        maximum and typical power that is used for local communication        (e.g. in Bluetooth this could be 1 mW or 100 mW) and the        frequency bandwidth that will be used for the local        communication.

According to a first embodiment, the UE uses the non access stratum(NAS) level to send such information to the core network and thenforward the information to the radio access network. According to asecond embodiment, the UE uses the access stratum (AS) level to sendsuch information to the radio access network and this information isthen forward to the radio access network.

Turning now to FIG. 2 a illustrating a NAS scenario corresponding to thescenario of FIG. 1, where the video camera supports multiple radiointerfaces (LTE, 3G and GSM), but it can only use one of the radiointerfaces at any one point in time. The video server has only one radiointerface supporting local ad-hoc communication such as an LTE interfaceand the cellular network comprises multiple RANs supporting e.g. GSM, 3Gand LTE.

The UE, the video camera 202 connects to the cellular network 204,206and locally ad-hoc to the video server 200. It uses frequency or timedivision to be able to communicate with the video server locally andwith the cellular radio access network simultaneously.

In the NAS based solution the UE registers in the home location register(HLR) 212 which is a part of the core network 206. According to thefirst embodiment, the UE 202 registers with multiple profiles 210 andupdates its current profile as illustrated in FIG. 2 a. Each suchprofile 210 contains a set of user preferences that contain informationabout radio resource restrictions due to the ad-hoc communication, i.e.about the various scenarios and associated resource requirements orpreferences that the UE would like the CN and the RAN(s) to know about.For example, in a UE profile referred to as “Local LTE communication”,the UE may indicate that it is engaged in an ad-hoc session with devicesthat are only LTE capable and that the UE cannot execute an inter-RAThandover. The profile may also comprise type of local communication,intensity level, QoS parameters and importance (priority). The priorityrefers to the relevance of the local communication relative to thecellular communication sessions. For example, if this priority level isset HIGH, that means that the UE does not want to RAN to interrupt orinterfere with any local communication session. On the contrary, if thispriority is set LOW, the UE accepts that the RAN interferers with orinterrupts the local communication session in case, for example, anincoming cellular communication session. The UE may however still beable to use different bands with LTE spectrum. In this way, the networkobtains information whether a certain inter-RAT handover is acceptableor not or how to schedule scheduling grants for example. The NAS basedsolution according to the first embodiment is further illustrated inFIG. 2 b. When the UE starts 220 a local communication session andestablishes 221 signaling bearers, it activates 222 a localcommunication profile to the HLR or the VLR of the core network bysending a PROFILE UPDATE (NAS) command to the HLR or VLR. For example,this update command may be PROFILE UPDATE to “Local LTE communication”which implies that the UE should not be handed over to another RAT thanLTE. The core network responds with an OK or not OK message to confirm223 the received profile. When the core network receives this updatecommand, it distributes this information to relevant CN nodes (e.g.SGSN) such that state of the art inter-RAT traffic steering and handoveralgorithms can take the current profiles into account. The CN also sends224 a RAB MODIFICATION message to the current serving RAN, so that theRAN RRM algorithms can be made aware of the UE communicating in parallelin a local ad-hoc network. As shown in FIG. 2 b, the RAN responds 225 tothe RAB modification. The RAN scheduling algorithm can now take intoaccount that the UE is engaged in local communication. The RAN can alsobe preconfigured such that it knows which OFDM (Orthogonal FrequencyDivision Multiplex) resource blocks the UE uses for local communicationand these resource blocks will not be used by the RAN. The RAN may bepreconfigured by the O&M (Operation and Maintenance) system such that itdoes not use certain resources that can be used for local communicationpurposes. In a bit more advanced solution, the RAN is preconfigured, butit starts refraining from those preconfigured resources when the UEsends a TRIGGER REQUEST to the RAN.

Turning now to FIG. 3 a illustrating an AS scenario corresponding to thescenario of FIG. 1, where the video camera supports multiple radiointerfaces (LTE, 3G and GSM), but it can only use one of the radiointerfaces at any one point in time as in NAS scenario. Further, similarto the NAS scenario the video server has only one radio interfacesupporting local ad-hoc communication such as an LTE interface and thecellular network comprises multiple RANs supporting e.g. GSM, 3G andLTE.

The UE, the video camera 302 connects to the RAN 304 and the CN 306 andestablishes a local ad-hoc communication with the video server 300. Ituses frequency or time division to be able to communicate with the videoserver locally and the cellular radio access network simultaneously.

In the AS based solution the UE 302 the video camera in this case sends308 a “LOCAL COMMUNICATON” request to its current serving RAN 304 usingRRC (radio resource control) signaling. This request contains parametersabout the type of local communication, intensity level, QoS parametersand importance, also referred to as priority. The priority refers to therelevance of the local communication relative to the cellularcommunication sessions in a similar way as the NAS based solution. TheRAN responds 310 with a “LOCAL COMMUNICATION GRANT” or “LOCALCOMMUNICATION REJECT” AS message to the UE. From the RAN perspective,granting a local communication session that implies resourcerestrictions to the RAN is similar to the regular type of admissioncontrol. That is, the purpose of the local admission control is toensure that after granting the session, and respecting the resourcerestrictions, the RAN must have enough remaining resources to maintainthe QoS of already ongoing sessions. So in its simplest form, the RANtakes into account the priority level of the local communication asrequested by the UE and the amount of resources, e.g. OFDM resourceblocks, that are affected if the local communication session getsaccepted and considers these resources as input into its state-of-theart admission control algorithm. The difference from regular admissioncontrol is that the output of this admission control is now applied tothe local communication session rather than to the regular radio accessbearer request.

In the case of grant, the grant message contains information elementsabout recommendations to the UE about which time and frequency resourcesit should use for its local communication needs. In this case, the RANalso informs 312 the core network “UE IN LOCAL COMMUNICATION” (which maybe an extension of the RAB modification) that the UE is involved inlocal ad-hoc communication. The core network thereafter tries to avoidsending commands to the UE which may cause a conflict to an on-goinglocal communication session, such as an inter-RAT handover to the UEtaking into account the importance parameter in the “LOCALCOMMUNICATION” request. Further, the RAN refrains to use thosetime/frequency resources that were recommended for the UE in the “LOCALCOMMUNICATION GRANT” message.

The AS based solution according to the second embodiment is furtherillustrated in FIG. 3 b. When the UE has established 320 a localcommunication session and established radio 321 and signaling 322bearers to the cellular network, it sends 323 a “LOCAL COMMUNICATON”request to the serving RAN using RRC signaling. It should be noted thatestablishing a communication with the local device (as shown in 320) mayonly imply that the devices have achieved some basic synchronization ofthe physical layer and exchanged identities. In other words, they haveestablished a control plane association effectively corresponding to asignaling bearer. Before they can start using the user data plan, the UEsends the “LOCAL COMMUNICATION” request to the cellular network.

The request comprises information to the network about radio resourceutilization resulting in restrictions due to the local communicationsuch as parameters corresponding the parameters of the profilesaccording to the NAS based solution e.g. type of local communication,intensity level, QoS parameters and importance (priority).

The RAN responds 324 with a “LOCAL COMMUNICATION GRANT” or “LOCALCOMMUNICATION REJECT” AS message to the UE. In the case of grant, thegrant message contains information elements about recommendations to theUE about which time and frequency resources it should use for its localcommunication needs.

If the request is granted, the RAN also informs 325 the core network ina “UE IN LOCAL COMMUNICATION” message that the UE is involved in local(ad-hoc) type of communication. The “UE IN LOCAL COMMUNICATION” messagemay be an extension of the existing RAB modification message, whereinthe core network can respond 326 to the RAB modification with a RABmodification OK/not OK. The network can then take the localcommunication into account when controlling the cellular resources ofthe UE. That may result in that the core network thereafter tries toavoid sending an inter-RAT handover to the UE if the UE has an activelocal communication session.

It should be noted that the AS based solution is more applicable for amore dynamic usage to update the current RAN regarding fast RRM (RadioResource Management) restrictions, whereas the NAS based solution canadvantageously be used to influence core network related algorithms e.g.load balancing, traffic steering, etc.

To summarize, a method in a UE is proposed according to embodiments ofthe present invention. The UE comprises at least one radio accesscommunication interface supporting cellular and local ad-hoccommunication. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the method comprises accordingto one embodiment establishment 401 of a cellular communication to thecellular network if there is no existing on-going session. A localcommunication to the ad-hoc network is then established 402 implyingthat the devices involved in the local communication has achieved abasic synchronization and that no user plane data is ready to betransmitted.

Information about radio resource utilization resulting in resourcerestrictions for cellular communication due to the local ad-hoccommunication is sent 403 to a network node such that the network i.e.the RAN and the core network can take the characteristics of the localcommunication into account when allocating radio resources for thecellular communication.

As mentioned above, the UE and the RAN may support multiple RATs. Inthis case the UE comprises at least a first communication interface fora first cellular network configured according to a first RAT and asecond communication interface for a second cellular network configuredaccording to a second radio access technology, wherein only one of thefirst and second communication interfaces can be used at one point oftime. The information may comprise recommendations that the UE shouldnot be handed over to certain radio access technologies which is notsupported by the local device.

According to the first embodiment, the UE sends the information to thenetwork according to a NAS based solution, as illustrated in FIG. 5where the UE sends 403 a the information to a core network node in thecellular network. The sending step 403 a may comprise an updating 403 a1 of a UE profile stored at the core network node with informationassociated with the established local communication as illustrated inFIG. 6.

According to the second embodiment, the UE sends the information to thenetwork according to an AS based solution, as illustrated in FIG. 7where the UE sends 403 b the information to a radio access node in thecellular network. The sending step 403 b may comprise the further stepsof sending 403 b 1 a local communication request at least containingparameters about characteristics of the local communication to the radioaccess network node and receiving 403 b 2 a local communication grant ora local communication reject in response to the local communicationrequest as illustrated in FIG. 8. The local communication grantcomprises information elements indicating which resources the UE shoulduse for the local communication.

Furthermore, a method in a network node controlling cellular radioresources of UEs in a cellular network at least configured to operateaccording to one radio access technology supporting local ad-hoccommunication is also provided. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the networknode receives 601 information from a UE about radio resource utilizationresulting in resource restrictions due to a local communication whichthe UE intends to be involved in and controls 602 the cellular radioresources based on the received information.

According to the first embodiment the network node is a core networknode such as a HLR (Home location register) or VLR (Visiting LocationRegister) and the core network node is storing at least one profilecomprising the information about radio resource restrictions associatedwith possible UE local ad-hoc configurations. In this case, thereceiving step 601 comprises the further steps of receiving 601 a 1 aprofile update command, and sending 601 a 2 a RAB modification messageto a RAN serving the UE so that the RAN radio resource algorithms can bemade aware of the ongoing local ad-hoc UE communication as illustratedin FIG. 10.

According to a second embodiment, the network node is a radio accessnode, wherein the receiving step comprises the further steps ofreceiving 601 b 1 a local communication request comprising theinformation about radio resource restrictions associated with possibleUE local ad-hoc configurations, responding 601 b 2 with a localcommunication grant or a local communication reject, and if the localcommunication is granted informing 601 b 3 the core network about thelocal communication as illustrated in FIG. 11.

The methods of the embodiments relates to one method in a UE and acorresponding method in a network node. A UE adapted to implement the UEmethod is shown in FIG. 12. The UE 1201 comprises at least one radioaccess communication interface 1204 a supporting cellular and localad-hoc communication. As mentioned above, the UE may also comprisemultiple radio access communication interfaces 1204 b,1204 c supportingother RATs wherein only one of the communication interfaces can be usedat one point of time. Said at least one radio access communicationinterface 1204 a is configured to establish a local communication to thead-hoc network. According to the invention, the UE 1201 comprises aninformation unit 1203 configured to send, to a node of the cellularnetwork, information about radio resource utilization resulting inresource restrictions for cellular communication due to the local ad-hoccommunication via a cellular connection using one of the radio accesscommunication interfaces.

A network node adapted to implement the network node method is shown inFIGS. 13 and 14. FIG. 13 illustrates the NAS based embodiment where thenetwork node is a core network node and FIG. 14 illustrates the AS basedembodiment where the network node is a radio access network node.Accordingly, the network node 206;304 controls cellular radio resourcesof UEs in a cellular network at least configured to operate according toone radio access technology supporting local ad-hoc communication. Thenetwork node 206;304 comprises a receiver 1302;1402 configured toreceive information 1304;1404 from a UE about radio resource utilizationresulting in resource restrictions due to a local communication whichthe UE intends to be involved in. Furthermore, the network nodecomprises a controlling unit 1306;1403 configured to control thecellular radio resources based on the received information.

According to the first embodiment, the network node 206 is a corenetwork node 206 such as a VLR or HLR. The core network node comprises aprofile storage 1301 storing at least one profile comprising theinformation about radio resource utilization resulting in resourcerestrictions associated with possible UE local ad-hoc configurations.

Furthermore, the receiver 1302 is configured to receive a profile updatecommand 1304, and the network node 206 further comprises a transmitter1303 configured to send a RAB modification message 1305 to a RAN servingthe UE so that the RAN radio resource algorithms can be made aware ofthe ongoing local ad-hoc UE communication.

According to the second embodiment, the network node 206 is a radioaccess network node 304, wherein the receiver 1402 of the radio accessnetwork node 304 is configured to receive a local communication request1404 comprising the information about radio resource utilizationresulting in resource restrictions associated with possible UE localad-hoc configurations. The radio access network node further comprises atransmitter 1405 configured to respond with a local communication grantor a local communication reject 1406 to the UE, and to inform 1405 thecore network about the local communication.

Modifications and other embodiments of the disclosed invention will cometo mind to one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachingspresented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings.Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not to belimited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications andother embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of thisdisclosure. Although specific terms may be employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

1. A method in a User Equipment, UE, comprising at least one radioaccess communication interface supporting cellular and local ad-hoccommunication, the method comprising: establishing a local communicationto an ad-hoc network; and sending via a cellular connection, to a nodeof a cellular network, information about radio resource utilizationresulting in resource restrictions for cellular communication due to thelocal ad-hoc communication, wherein the local ad-hoc communication isprioritized over the cellular communication.
 2. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the UE comprises at least a first communicationinterface for a first cellular network configured according to a firstradio access technology, RAT, and a second communication interface for asecond cellular network configured according to a second RAT, the methodfurther comprising operating only one of the first and secondcommunication interfaces at any time.
 3. The method according to claim2, wherein the information about radio resource utilization resulting inresource restrictions for cellular communication due to the local ad-hoccommunication comprises recommendations that the UE should not be handedover to certain radio access technologies.
 4. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the information about radio resource utilizationresulting in resource restrictions for cellular communication due to thelocal ad-hoc communication comprises at least one of type of localcommunication, intensity level, quality of service parameters andpriority.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein sending theinformation comprises: sending the information to a core network node inthe cellular network.
 6. The method according to claim 5, whereinsending the information comprises: updating a UE profile stored at thecore network node using the information associated with the establishedlocal ad-hoc communication.
 7. The method according to claim 1, whereinsending the information comprises: sending the information to a radioaccess network node in the cellular network.
 8. The method according toclaim 7, wherein sending the information comprises: sending a localcommunication request that at least contains parameters forcharacteristics of the local communication to the radio access networknode.
 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the method comprises:receiving a local communication grant or a local communication reject inresponse to the local communication request, wherein the localcommunication grant comprises information elements indicating whichresources the UE should use for the local communication.
 10. A method ina network node controlling cellular radio resources of User Equipments,UEs, in a cellular network at least configured to operate according toone radio access technology supporting local ad-hoc communication, themethod comprising: receiving information from a UE about radio resourceutilization resulting in resource restrictions due to a localcommunication which the UE intends to be involved in; and controllingthe cellular radio resources based on the received information, whereinthe local communication is prioritized over cellular communication. 11.The method according to claim 10, wherein the cellular network isconfigured to operate according to multiple radio access technologies.12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the information comprisesrecommendations that the UE should not be handed over to certain radioaccess technologies.
 13. The method according to claim 10, wherein theinformation about radio resource utilization resulting in resourcerestrictions due to the local ad-hoc communication comprises at leastone of type of local communication, intensity level, quality of serviceparameters and priority.
 14. The method according to claim 10, whereinthe network node is a core network node; and wherein the core networknode stores at least one profile comprising the information about radioresource utilization resulting in resource restrictions associated withpossible UE local ad-hoc configurations.
 15. The method according toclaim 14, wherein the core network node is a home location register or avisitor location register.
 16. The method according to claim 14, whereinreceiving the information comprises: receiving a profile update command;and sending a RAB modification message to a radio access network, RAN,serving the UE so that the RAN radio resource algorithms can be madeaware of the ongoing local ad-hoc UE communication.
 17. The methodaccording to claim 10, wherein the network node is a radio accessnetwork node.
 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein receivingthe information comprises: receiving a local communication requestcomprising the information about radio resource utilization resulting inresource restrictions associated with possible UE local ad-hocconfigurations; responding with a local communication grant or a localcommunication reject; and when the local communication is granted,informing the CN about the local communication.
 19. A User Equipment,UE, comprising: at least one radio access communication interfacesupporting cellular and local ad-hoc communication, said at least oneradio access communication interface is configured to establish a localcommunication to an ad-hoc network; and an information unit configuredto send via a cellular connection, to a node of a cellular network,information about radio resource utilization resulting in resourcerestrictions for cellular communication due to the local ad-hoccommunication, wherein the local ad-hoc communication is prioritizedover the cellular communication.
 20. The UE according to claim 19,wherein the UE comprises: at least a first communication interface for afirst cellular network configured according to a first radio accesstechnology, RAT; and a second communication interface for a secondcellular network configured according to a second RAT, wherein only oneof the first and second communication interfaces can be used at anytime.
 21. The UE according to claim 20, wherein the information aboutradio resource utilization resulting in resource restrictions due to thelocal ad-hoc communication comprises recommendations that the UE shouldnot be handed over to certain radio access technologies.
 22. The UEaccording to claim 19, wherein the information about radio resourceutilization resulting in resource restrictions due to the local ad-hoccommunication comprises at least one of type of local communication,intensity level, quality of service parameters and priority.
 23. The UEaccording to claim 19, wherein the information unit is configured tosend the information to a core network node in the cellular network. 24.The UE according to claim 23, wherein the information unit is configuredto update a UE profile stored at the core network node with informationassociated with the established local communication.
 25. The UEaccording to claim 19, wherein the information unit is configured tosend the information to a radio access network node in the cellularnetwork.
 26. The UE according to claim 25, wherein the information unitis configured to send a local communication request that at leastcontains parameters for characteristics of the local communication tothe radio access network node.
 27. A network node controlling cellularradio resources of User Equipments, UEs, in a cellular network that isat least configured to operate according to one radio access technologysupporting local ad-hoc communication, the network node comprising: areceiver configured to receive information from a UE about radioresource utilization resulting in resource restrictions due to a localcommunication which the UE intends to be involved in; and a controllingunit configured to control the cellular radio resources based on thereceived information, wherein the local communication is prioritizedover cellular communication.
 28. The network node according to claim 27,wherein the receiver is configured to operate according to multipleradio access technologies.
 29. The network node according to claim 28,wherein the information comprises recommendations that the UE should notbe handed over to certain radio access technologies.
 30. The networknode according to claim 27, wherein the information about radio resourceutilization resulting in resource restrictions due to the local ad-hoccommunication comprises at least one of type of local communication,intensity level, quality of service parameters and priority.
 31. Thenetwork node according to claim 27, wherein the network node is a corenetwork node, and wherein the core network node comprises a profilestorage storing at least one profile comprising the information aboutradio resource utilization resulting in resource restrictions associatedwith possible UE local ad-hoc configurations.
 32. The network nodeaccording to claim 31, wherein the core network node is a home locationregister or a visitor location register.
 33. The network node accordingto claim 31, wherein the receiver is configured to receive a profileupdate command, and the network node further comprises a transmitterconfigured to send a RAB modification message to a radio access network,RAN, serving the UE so that the RAN radio resource algorithms can bemade aware of the ongoing local ad-hoc UE communication.
 34. The networknode according to claim 27, wherein the network node is a radio accessnetwork node.
 35. The network node according to claim 34, wherein thereceiver is configured to receive a local communication request,comprising the information about radio resource utilization resulting inresource restrictions associated with possible UE local ad-hocconfigurations, from the UE, and wherein the network node furthercomprises a transmitter configured to respond with a local communicationgrant or a local communication reject to the UE, and to inform the corenetwork about the local communication.
 36. The method of claim 1,wherein sending the information about radio resource utilizationresulting in resource restrictions for cellular communication due to thelocal ad-hoc communication comprises sending, from the UE to the node ofthe cellular network, an indication that the local communication has ahigher priority level than the cellular communication.